Last Battle, Last Chance, Last Breath
by Wolf-Phantom
Summary: The ending of the 7th book. I began writing this ages ago, and have decided to finish it. Will be taking into account OoTP but not HBP. Enjoy! Be kind and rewind! Rewiew... I meant review!
1. Food Fights and Strange Lights

**Food Fights and Strange Lights**

All the Hogwarts students were sitting in the Great Hall when Harry's scar started to burn dully. Harry considered telling Ron or Hermione but decided not to worry them. It didn't seem that much of a problem anyway; just a slight throb… that couldn't mean Voldemort was here could it? Everyone else was chatting glumly as only 2 months ago, the Minister of Magic himself, Cornelius Fudge, had fired Dumbledore, the school headmaster.

Voldemort must have tricked Fudge to firing Dumbledore; Harry assumed the Imperius Curse was involved, though Fudge had been known to be swayed by money on more than one occasion. Harry believed that one way or another, Voldemort had to have had something to do with Dumbledore's firing, as only 2 years ago when Fudge found out Voldemort was really back, he was quite keen to help Dumbledore as much as possible in getting rid of the Dark Lord. Oddly though, after succeeding in the removal of Dumbledore from Hogwarts, nothing had happened, nothing at all. It was rather unnerving in itself. While, sadly, Dumbledore was gone, the other professors were still there at Hogwarts thought they did not mention Voldemort to any of the students. Every time a question was fired, trying to catch them off guard, it was dodged just as quickly.

Oddly, the teachers were not in the Great Hall this night and since no one was watching them, a number of small food fights had erupted throughout the Hall. Hermione was glaring at the students throwing food; Harry could tell she was fighting the urge to jump up and start ordering detentions, being Head Girl and all. As Harry was contemplating this, the pain in his scar doubled, and he scrunched up his eyes and placed his hand to his forehead. Hermione looked curiously at him while Ron was busy shielding himself with his plate from an incoming slice of cheesecake.

"Harry? Are you all right? You don't look too good…it's not your scar is it?" Hermione said worriedly, though her eye's kept darting back towards the misbehaving students.

Harry tried to answer, but his voice was drowned out by screams coming from the Front Hall.

"No! Please, no! Ahhhhh…" the screams were cut short as they saw a flash of green light shone from underneath the door the connected the Great Hall to the Front Hall, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.


	2. The Dark Lord

The Dark Lord

Everyone froze and turned to face the door.  
"Didn't that sound like Professor Trelawney?" Lavender Brown gasped, holding her hand to her mouth.

Suddenly the tables, on which they were eating, floated into the air along with the benches they were sitting on, and tipped the students off on to the floor. The tables and benches then started to shake, almost looking as though they were shivering. Then, slowly, cracks started showing in the benches and tables, and with a loud resounding crack, they splintered into many large jagged pieces of wood. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat dazed on the floor staring cautiously up at the sharp pieces of wood floating above them.

"What the hell just happened?" Ron asked both indignant and terrified at the same time as he and Harry helped Hermione to her feet.  
"No idea, but I have a bad feeling about this..." Harry answered.  
"Ahh…" Harry scowled, clutching at his scar as he sank back down to the floor on his knees.  
"What is it Harry?" Hermione whispered, staring at him with worried and frightened eyes while the rest of the student stared at him or at the door. "My scar… it's burning again…." "But that would mean that…" Ron began.  
"You-Know-Who's here." Harry finished, turning pale. The splinters of wood which had been floating above their heads flew over to the sides of the Great Hall, the closest ones to them on the ground, while the ones further back where higher up. The Great Hall now resembled a sort of crude stadium.  
"What's all this about?" Ron asked out loud to no one in particular as no one was paying attention to him at the moment. Suddenly, they found that they were floating up into the air. Other kids screamed and kicked as they to where lifted off the ground.  
"Great, as soon as Dumbledore gets fired, You-Know-Who takes advantage of it." Ron whined under his breath, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

Unlike most of the other student in the Hall, Harry, Hermione and Ron were unfortunately used to strange events like this and did not struggle as they floated in the air. Harry saw Ginny struggling from the corner of his eye. Many of their fellow students were casting spells, trying to return to the floor, though Harry knew Voldemort better, he would have made the spell strong enough to resist all other incantations.

Without warning, all the kids floated quickly over to the splinters on each side of the Great Hall. As they reached the splinters, ropes appeared from thin air, and snaked their way over to the students, and tied them to the splinters, with them facing towards the center of the Hall. Harry stayed in the middle of the Hall and slowly started to sink back to the ground. Once on the ground, he stood up, but when he tried to walk over to where Ron and Hermione were tied up, it was like his feet were glued to the floor.

"Harry! Run!" Hermione warned.  
"I can't move!" Harry yelled back, though even if he could, he would never have abandoned them. "Neither can we, " said Hermione as she and Ron struggled against their bonds, "let me try to get us down with my wand!" Hermione yelled to Harry. As she reached into her pocket, a cold voice boomed from the doorway of the Hall.  
"Oh no, Miss Granger, we can't have that, now can we?" it snarled, "Accio Wands"  
All the wands in the Hall, including Harry's, flew to the doorway, and as people turned to see who had taken their wands, gasps and muffled screams filled the Hall.

"Is th-that…V-V-Vol…h-him?" Neville squeaked.  
"Harry!" Hermione yelled, going pale.  
Those who had not known who was standing at the doorway soon found out, and the Hall was filled with faces full of terror, even Malfoy's. This was the first time any of them had really seen Voldemort in the flesh and his long spidery fingers, flattened face with slits for nostrils, evil smirk, and red, murderous eyes did not make for a very welcoming first impression.  
There in the doorway he stood wearing a black robe, with a small lump standing beside him, quivering slightly.  
"Fetch Harry's wand Wormtail, I'm sure he's going to need it." Voldemort's cold laugh echoed around the Hall. Wormtail's hunched figure scuttled over to the pile of wands and started rummaging through the large pile of wands, his silvery hand, which Voldemort had given him 3 years ago, shone and sparkled in the light of the floating candles which lit the Great Hall.  
Harry scowled at the sight of Wormtail, he was the reason his parents were dead, the reason Sirius had been sent to Azkaban.  
Sirius… Harry's godfather…  
Harry wiped the thoughts of Sirius away, they would not help him in this predicament.

"How long it's been since I've walked these halls…" Voldemort reminisced, staring around the Hall.

"What do you want!" Harry yelled across the Hall.  
The other students stared wide-eyed at Harry, amazed that he didn't even seem scared.  
How wrong they were, underneath his calm exterior, Harry was panicked. His friends were in danger, Ron, Hermione, Ginny…  
Ginny… the girl he secretly loved… nothing would happen to her if he had something to say about it!

"How rude…not even a hello." mocked Voldemort, pulling out of his thoughts, "But I'll get to the point, shall I?" Voldemort laughed.  
"I'm here Harry, to finally get my revenge on you, in front of all your friends. You and your pesky little friends have foiled my plans too many times, so I think I shall kill you in front of them all, so they lose hope, their fighting spirit shall die with you. And after your gone, I think I'll kill them too, just to make sure I can do my bidding unhindered." His eye's glittered with fiendish glee.

All the faces in the Hall turned white with panic. Then a trembling voice spoke out from the crowd,  
"M-m-master! Please spare me! Kill all the half bloods and mud-bloods but spare me! I want to serve you!" Draco yelled out.  
"Going to follow in your father's footsteps are you Malfoy?" Ron snarled.  
Draco shot a dirty look at Ron; "Shut up Weasel!" he spat.  
"Ah… Draco Malfoy…your father…" Voldemort said as Draco turned back to him, looking wary, yet hopeful "was a pathetic moron! He was of no use to me, and neither are you. You shall be the first to die!" Voldemort whipped out his wand and pointed it at Draco's nose. Mr. Malfoy had accidentally given false information to the Dark Lord about Harry a few months ago, slowing down the progress of Voldemort's plan for Harry. The eldest Malfoy hadn't been seen after that… the Dark Lord didn't like to wait.

"Stop!" Harry yelled, his face panicked.  
"Now Harry, what do you care if I kill him? Hmm? He's your enemy as much as me." Voldemort questioned, an evil grin on his face.  
"No one deserves to be killed by you… kill me, but leave the rest alone." Harry yelled.  
"Harry! No!" Ginny yelled, a few tears sliding down her face.  
"Potter?" Draco mumbled, shocked, as Voldemort started to turn back towards Harry. He had thought he was dead… but to be saved by Harry? That was unexpected… they had always been enemies and Draco had always thought that Harry wouldn't have even lifted a finger to safe his life…

"Harry! Please be careful!" Hermione cried out.  
"Fine," Voldemort said, putting his wand away, "we shall duel again, but bare in mind, if I win, all your friends die…slowly and painfully." He added, baring his teeth.  
"Like I have a choice…" Harry muttered sarcastically.  
"Wormtail, give Potter his wand." Voldemort ordered. Wormtail sprinted over to Harry, wheezing heavily and avoiding eye contact with Harry, handed the wand over, and then ran to the left side of the 'stadium'. Voldemort waved his wand and the doors to the Great Hall swung closed. With another wave, Harry's feet became unstuck.  
"I will win this… I will finish this…" Harry growled.  
"You're so sure are you Harry?" Voldemort mocked.

"I'm going to fulfill the prophecy tonight…" Harry said, looking straight into Voldemort's eyes, which widened, then narrowed at the mention of the prophecy that he so desperately wanted to hear. 


	3. A Prophecy Untold

The Prophecy

"Tell me Potter, or I'll force it out off you!" Voldemort barked.  
"Never! You want the prophecy? You'll have to make me!" Harry yelled. The on looking students' eyes widened again. They couldn't even say the Dark Lord's name, let alone yell at him.

"The prophecy? You mean the one from the Department of Mysteries?" Ron whispered quickly to Hermione.

Everyone around them seemed to be listening intently, eyes all focused on either Harry, Hermione or Ron, while every few seconds flicking back to look at Voldemort in terror. They had never been told what had happened when some of their classmates had disappeared, only to return bruised and battered in their 5th year. It had been rumored that they had been to the Ministry of Magic, but whenever they queried about the incident, those few students and teachers that knew what had happened always managed to change the subject. Also, since everything kept in the Department of Mysteries was a complete secret, any information about what was inside was rare and valuable. And almost always impossible to obtain.

"It must be… but I thought it was smashed and never heard…" Hermione whispered back, looking confused. Did Harry really know what the prophecy was? If he did, why had he never told them? "Alright Potter, have it your way!" Voldemort snarled, "Imperio!" as he flicked his wand.  
Harry felt that same feeling he had felt before in the graveyard that night of his 4th year, that feeling of floating, all his worries were gone and he felt relaxed and happy.  
Tell me the prophecy.  
No Tell me the prophecy!  
Never! I'll never tell you!

The voices fought in his head while the whole school watched Harry, wondering if he was strong enough to throw off the curse once again, as they had watched him do so in their Defense Against the Dark Arts class in their 4th year at Hogwarts.

How dare you refuse me! What is the prophecy! TELL ME NOW POTTER!

"NEVER!" Harry screamed out loud, throwing off the curse completely. The happy feeling was gone, and the realization of whom he was fighting against sunk in again. Small gasps were uttered around the Hall. Harry was able to defeat one of the Unforgivable Curses, one cast, more importantly by the darkest wizard of all time.

"Is that so, Potter?" Voldemort spat venomously, "Well maybe some pain will loosen your tongue"  
"Never. I will never give in that easily!" Harry growled.  
"We shall see…" Voldemort pointed his wand at Harry, "Let's find out how long you can last against my Cuciatus Curse… CRUCIO!" Voldemort roared. Harry tried to raise his wand to block the curse, but was still rather dazed from the Imperius Curse; he didn't manage to react quickly enough.  
Harry fell to the floor as the curse hit him, withering in pain, but refusing to give Voldemort the satisfaction of crying out. The students around the Hall stared, horrified at the scene before them, or cringed and looked away.

It felt like someone was driving red-hot blades into his body, pain searing up his spine. He was gritting his teeth, trying not to give Voldemort the pleasure of seeing Harry shrieking in the pain that he was causing. Harry tried to hang on, but a scream slipped past his lips before he could stop it, followed quickly by whimpers and other screams that Harry did his best to suppress.

Hermione shrieked, "Stop! Please stop!" while Ron face grew paler and paler by the minute. Ginny was staring at Harry's withering form, tears flowing steadily down her face.  
Voldemort lifted his wand and the pain ended. With his eyes watering slightly and his breathing heavy, Harry shakily got back to his feet and stared defiantly at Voldemort.

"I'd advise you tell me the prophecy Harry." Voldemort said dangerously.  
"Or what? You'll torture me again? Go ahead! I'll never tell you!" Harry said, raising his wand.  
"No Harry, something much worse…" Voldemort said, an evil grin spreading slowly across his face, his eyes not on Harry, but scanning the crowd.  
Harry froze as he saw Voldemort's eyes come to rest on Hermione. He waved his wand and she floated towards him while she struggled against the ropes that held her tightly to the splinter of wood that was once one of the house tables.  
"Hermione!" Ron called, panicked, as her watched her float away from beside him.

Voldemort turned back to Harry as Hermione came to rest in the air next to him, "So Harry, it's your choice. Tell me the prophecy or I torture the mudblood. I daresay she probably wont take it as well as you did." He said, enjoying the look horror, panic and hatred on Harry's face.  
"Don't you dare!" Harry yelled, "Leave my friends out of this! It's me you want"  
"Tell me the prophecy, or she dies slowly, and you'll have to watch her suffer." Voldemort held his wand up the Hermione's neck threateningly.  
Harry looked to Hermione, the to Voldemort, "Fine"  
"Harry! No!" Hermione whimpered, "Don't tell him"  
"I have to… I have no choice…" Harry sighed in a defeated tone, looking from her to Ron. 


End file.
